Car-dumping cradle



Nov. 2, 1926.

H. T. SIMMONS CAR DUMPING CRADLE Filed May 4, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 2 ,1926. 1,605,079

H. T. SIMMONS I CAR DUMPING CRADLE Filed May 4. 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 L T27 29 w Nov. 2 1926.

H. T. SIMMONS CAR DUMPING CRADLE 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 4. 1925 I l l Nov. 2 1926.

H. T. SEMMONS CAR DUMPING CRADLE Filed May 4, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Nov. 2, 1926.

Parent critics.

HARRY T. SIMMONS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE WELLMAN-SEAVER- MORGAN (10., 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIQ.

oan-n'omrrne CRADLE.

Application filed May 4, 192 5.

This invention relates to car dumping cradles of the type operated by hoist cables and more particularly to a system of cable suspension for such cradles.

It is the objectof the present invention to provide a cable suspension system for car dumping cradles by which injury to the dumper by reason of the breaking of a hoist rope or by reason of the breaking of a winding drum or of a gear or shaft in the drum driving mechanism or by the breaking of guide sheaves is prevented.

With the above and other objects in view the invention may be said to comprise thecar dumper as illustrated in the several views of the drawing hereinafter describedand particularly set forth in the appended claims together with such variations and modifications thereof as will be apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention appertains.

Reference should be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the cradle hoist tower; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the lower guide sheaves and winding drums for the hoist cables; Fig. 3 is a. diagrammatic perspective view-showing the cradle suspension cables and the drum operated pull cables; Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the cross-over reevine applied to the suspension cables only: 5 is a diagrammatic view showing cross-over reeving applied to tlie pull cables only: Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view showing the reevine' of the cradle count-er weight cables; Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view showing the reevinq of the counter weight cables-and hoist cables as applied to a cradle of the type which has a tiltin movement only: and Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing the reeving for hoist cables which are connected directly to the cradle and to winding drums for elevating and tilting the cradle.

Referring to the accompanying: drawings the car dumper is mounted within suitable tower 1 and consists of a car holding cradle which is adapted to be lifted vertically within the tower into engagement with a suitable stop or hool 3 on a transverse girder 4 and o be tilted about the hook or stop 3 as pivot. In order to impart the tilting and lifting; movements to the cradle the cradle is supported at opposite ends by suit- Serial No; 27,6?4

cradle and pass over suitable fixed guide sheaves on the tower, the opposite ends of the cables extending downwardly over therear edge of the cradle and across the bottom thereof, the ends of the cables being anchored to the bottom of the cradle adjacent the front side thereof- The cradle supportingcables are operated in such a way that when the upward movement of the front side of the cradle is stopped by theengagement with the hooks or stop members '3, the cables willcontinue to lift the rear side of the cradle until the cradle has been tilted through an angle sufficient to. discharge the contents from a car held on the cradle. lhe cables are operated by suitable winding drums 5 and 6 preferably arranged side by side at the rear of the cradle and adjacent the center thereof. The suspension cables may be'opera'ted by suitable vertically movable carriages at opposite ends of the tower, the carriage 7, being provided with upper and lower sheaves 8 and 9 Over which run the suspension cables attached to the tower and the pull cables operated by the drums 5 and 6. Atthe opposite end of the tower there isa similar carriage 10 provided with an upper sheave 11 which receives the suspension cables and a lower sheave 12 which receives the pull cables.

Referring particularly to Fig. 8 of the drawing, the cradle is supported by a series'of cables in four sets, the cables of each set being secured at opposite ends to the'cradle. The cables 13 of one set are anchored to the front side of the cradle and extend upwardly over a guide sheave 14: adjacent the top of the tower, rearwardly over a guide sheave15 at the rear side of the tower, downwardly and underthe upper guide sheave 8 of the carriage 7, and over fixed guide sheaves 16 and 17, and thence downwardly to the rear edge ofthe cradle at the sameend thereof as that. at which the opposite ends of the cables are anchored. The second set of cables 18 at the same end of the cradle are anchored adjacent the cables 13, pass upwardly and rearwardly over guide sheaves 19 and 15, under the carriage sheave 8, over the fixed sheave 16 to a guide sheave 20, from the guide sheave 20 under a guide sheave 21 disposed at right angles to the guide sheave 20, and from the guide sheave 21 over a sumilar guide sheave 22 at the opposite end of the cradle and from the guide sheave 22 downwardly around the rear edge of the cradle. It will be noted that the cables 13 support opposite sides of the cradle at one end while the cables 18 are connected to support the cradle at opposite corners. At the opposite end of the cradle one pair of cables 23 extends upwardly and rearwardly over guide sheaves 24 and 25,. under the carriage sheave 11, over fixed guide sheaves 26 and'27 and thence downwardly to the rear edge of the cradle at a point directly opposite that at which the opposite ends of the cables are attached. The second pair of ca bles 28 extends upwardly over a guide sheave 29, rearwardly over a guide sheave 25, under the guide sheave 11 of the carriage, over the fixed sheaves 26 and 30 and under a guide sheave 31 disposed at right angles to the guide sheaves 26 and 30, the cables 28 extending from the sheave 31' over a sheave 32 at the opposite end of the cradle and downwardly alongside the cables 13 to the rear edge of the cradle.

The carriage 7 is operated by means of pull cables 29 which are anchored at one end at the point 30 to the tower or foundation and extend upwardly over the lower sheave 9 of the carriage. The cables 29 extend downwardly under a guide sheave 31, one or more of the cables extending from the sheave 31 to the winding drum and the other of the cables 29 extending from the sheave 31 over a sheave 33 to the winding drum 6. The drums 5 and 6 are simultaneously rotated and the carriage 7 may be pulled downwardly to operate the suspension cables to lift the cradle by operating the drums to a wind up the pull cables 29. At the oppo site end of the cradle two or more pull cables 37 are anchored to the tower or foundation at 38 and extend upwardly over thelower guide sheave 12 of the carriage 10. The cables 37 pass downwardly from the sheave 12 under a guide sheave 39 one or more of the cables 37 passing from the guide sheaves 39 to the drum 6 and other of the cables 37 passing from the guide sheaves 39 over a guide sheave 40 to the drum 5.

The advantage of the cable suspension system above described, is that if any of the suspension or pull cables should break the cradle would still be supported properly at both ends by the remaining cables. Thus if the cables 13 should break or be released by the breaking of a sheave, the near end of the cradle would not be permitted to drop since it would still be supported by the cables 18 and 28. If the cables 18 should fail the near end of the cradle would still be sup ported by the cables 13 and 28, the crossing over of the cables from one end of the cradle to the other providing a plurality of in dependent supports each capable of supporting the entire cradle. The crossed over reeving is also applied to the pull cablesso that if one of the pull cables breaks or if one of the drums 5 or 6 should be put out of commission the carriages and 12 would still be held by the pull cables extending to the other drum.

The cross-over reeving of the'cables may in some instances be advantageously applied either to the suspension cables alone or to the pull cables alone. In Figs/4 and 5 of the drawing 1 have shown modified arrangements in which the cross over feature is omitted in the pull cables as shown in Fig.

tower or foundation at 42, passing upwardlyover the sheave 9 of the carriage and under a fixed guide sheave 43 to the drum 5. At the opposite end of the cradle the pull cable 45 is anchored at one end to the toweror foundation at 46, passes upwardly over the sheave .12 of the carnage and downwardly under a fixed guide sheave 47 to the drum 6.

Referring to Fig. 5 of the drawing, the carriages 7 and 10 are operated by the crossed over pull cables 29 and 37 exactly as in the modification shown in Fig. 3. In this case, however, the suspension cables are not crossed over. The suspension cables 13" at one end pass over sheaves 14 and under the carriage sheave 8 and over fixed sheaves 9 and 17 down to the rear edge of the cradle directly opposite the other end of the cables. At the opposite end the cables 23 extend upwardly over fixed guide sheaves 24 and under the carriage sheave 11 and over fixed sheaves 26 and 27 -and then downwardly to the rear edge of the cradle at the same end. In some cases it may be advantageous to employ the crossover reeving to the suspension cables only as shown in Fig. 4 and in others it may be advantageous to apply cross-over reeving to the pull cables only as shown in Fig. 5.

In Fig. 6 of the drawing there is shown the reeving of counter-weight cables which are preferably employed along with the operating cable system shown in Fig. 3 or with the modified forms shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the counterweight system being illustrated separately from the operating system for the purpose of clearness. counterweight cables 48 and 49 are anchored to the front of the cradle at one end and extend upwardly from the cradle over fixed guide sheaves 50 and 51 adjacent the top of the tower. From the guide sheave 51 the cables extend under a running sheave 52 from which is suspended a counterweight 53, the cables passing upwardly from the sheave 52 over fixed sheave 54 at the top of the tower. The cables 48 and 49 pass downwardly from the sheave 54 over a guide sheave 55, the cable 48 passing directly from the sheave 55 to the winding drum 5 and the cable 49 passing over guide sheaves 56 and 57 to the winding drum 6, the cables being wound upon the drums 5 and 6 in a direction opposite that in which the pull cables are wound so that the counterweight cables are paid out as the pull cables are wound up.

At the opposite end of the cradle cables 58 and 59 are anchored to the upper portion of the front side and extend upwardly over fixed guide sheaves 60 and 61 adjacent the top of the tower and down under a running sheave 62 which carries a cdunterweight 63. The cables 58 and 59 pass upwardly from the sheave 62 over fixed guide sheaves 64 and 65, the cable 58 passing directly from the sheave 65 to the drum 6 and the cable 59 passing from the sheave 65 under guide sheave 66 and over guide sheave 67 to the drum 5. The cross-over reeving of the counterweight cables causes each of the counterweights to have an equal counter-balancing effect at both ends of the cradle so that if one counterweight becomes ineffective, the other counterweight will still act upon both ends of the cradle. Furthermore, the breaking of any one counterweight cable or the breaking of either drum will not put either of the counterweights out of commission.

Referring to Fig. 7 the cradle 2 is elevated and tilted by means of cables extending directly from the cradle to winding drums 5 and 6. At one end of the cradle two sets of cables 68 and 69 extend around the inner edge ofv the cradle and are anchored to the bottom thereof. These cables extend upwardly over fixed guide sheaves 70 and 71 at the top of the tower and downwardly under a sheave 72 anchored to the front side of the cradle at the same 811d.'

Cables 68 and 69 extend upwardly from the sheave 7 2 over a guide sheave 78 at the top of the-tower, rearwardly from the sheave 7 3 over a guide sheave74, the cables 68 extending directly from the guide sheave 74 down to the winding drum 5*, the cables 69 extending downwardly from the guide sheave 74 under guide sheave 75 and from the guide sheave 75 to the opposite end of the tower where they pass over a guide sheave 76 and down to the winding drum 6. The cradle supporting and hoisting cables 68 and 69 which operate to lift one end of the cradle are thus connected, one set to the drum 5 and the other set to the drum 6 so that if either drum should fail in its operation either by breakage of the drum driving mechanism or by breakage of the cables, the end of the cradle would still be supported by the cables running to the other drum. At the opposite end of the cradle there are two sets of cables 78 and 79 extending around the rear edge of the cradle and anchored to the under side thereof. These cables extend upwardly over fixed guide sheaves 80 and 81 at the top of the tower and downwardly under guide sheave 82 anchored to the front side of the cradle at the same end thence upwardly over guide sheaves 83 and 84 at the top of the tower. Cables 7 8 pass directly from the sheave 84 to the winding drum 6 and the cables 7 5 pass from the sheave 84 under a sheave 85 thence to the opposite end of the tower and down over a guide sheave 86 to the drum 5. By the reeving of the cables as above described, each winding drurn has connections to both ends of the cradle so that the cradle can be supported and hoisted from either winding drum independently of the other.

Referring toFig. 8 of the drawing, 1' have shown modifications in which the cross-over reeving is applied to a car dumping cradle of the type in which the cradle is not elevated but has a tilting movement only about a fixed horizontal axis. The cradle 2 in this case is supported on pivot pins 87 adjacent the top of the front side thereof and is adapted to swing about these pivot pins to dump a car supported thereon. Hoist cables 88 and 89 extend around the rear edge of the cradle at one end thereof and are anchored to the bottom of the cradle. The

cables 88 extend upwardly to a winding drum 5, while the cable 89 extends up wardly over a guide sheave 90 and around a guide sheave 91 disposed at right angles to guide sheave 92, the cable 89 passing from the guide sheave 91 to the opposite end of the cradle where it passes over a guide sheave 92 to the winding drum 6 At the opposite end of the cradle there are hoist cables 98 and 99 similar to the cables 88and 89, the cable 98 extending upwardly to the winding drum 6 and the cable 99 extending over a guide sheave 100 and thence over a guide sheave 101 to the winding drum 5, adjacent the opposite end of the cradle. By arrangingthe cables as above described each of the winding drums 5 and 6 is connected by cables to the opposite ends of the cradle so that the cradle may be tilted by either drum independently of the other. Counterweight cables 102 and 103 are connected to the cradle adjacent the cables 88 and 89, the cable 102 passing upwardly over guide sheaves 104 and 105, to a counterweight 106 and the cable 103 passing upwardly over guide sheaves 107, 108 and 109; to a counterweight 110 adjacent the opposite end of the cradle.

counterweight cables 112 and 118 are an- (ill guide sheaves 117, 118 and 119 to the counterweight 106.

By the connections above described, each of the counterweights 106 and 110 has cables extending to both ends of the cradle. so that each counterweight acts to counter-balance cradle evenly at both ends independently of the other.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a device of the character described, a cradle, and a plurality of hoisting devices therefor, each hoisting device being connected to both ends of the cradle.

2. In a device of the character described, a cradle, and a plurality of hoisting devices therefor, each hoisting device including cables supporting the cradle at opposite ends thereof.

3. In a device of the character described, a cradle, a plurality of hoisting devices therefor, each hoisting device inclucing cables supporting the cradle at opposite ends thereof, and means for simultaneously operating the hoisting devices.

4. In a device of the character described, a cradle, a plurality of hoisting devices therefor, each hoisting device including' cables supporting the cradle at opposite corners thereof, and means for simultaneously operating the hoisting devices.

5. In a device of the character described, a cradle, a plurality of hoisting devices therefor, each hoisting device including cables supporting the cradle at three corners there of, and means for simultaneously operating the hoisting devices.

6. In a device of the character described, a cradle, a plurality of hoisting devices therefor, each hoisting device including plurality of cables, each connected to the cradle at opposite ends thereof, and means for e2:-

erting a pull on certain of said cables and r other means for exerting a pull on other of said cables to lift the cradle.

7. In adevic'e of the character described, a cradle, hoist cables connected to the cradle at opposite ends thereof and a plurality of devices for exerting a pull on said cables, each of said devices being connected through said cables to opposite ends of the cradle.

8. In a device of the character described,

a cradle having cables supporting the same a cradle, a plurality of hoisting drums, and

separate cable connections from each of said drums to opposite ends of the cradle.

11. In a device of the character described, a cradle, and means for hoisting the cradle comprising a plurality of hoisting drums and cable connections from each of the drums to diagonally opposite corners of the cradle.

12. In a device of the character described, a car dumping cradle and means for hoisting the cradle comprising a pair of drums, means for simultaneously rotating the drums and separate cable connections from each of the drums to opposite ends of the cradle.

13. In a device of the character described, a car dumping cradle supporting structure therefor, cables having their opposite ends connected to the cradle at opposite ends thereof, stationary sheaves mounted on said structure over which intermediate portions of the cables run, a movable sheave over which certain of said cables run, a second movable sheave over which other of said .cables run, and means for simultaneously shifting said movable sheaves to move the cradle.

14-. In a device of the character described, a supporting structure, a car dumping cradle mounted therein, stationary guide sheaves on the structure above each corner of the cable, cables attached to the cradle at one side thereof beneath the sheaves on'said side of the cradle, said cables extending over the sheaves above the points of attachment and over the sheaves at the diagonally opposite corners, said cables passing from said last mentioned sheaves to the side of the cradle adjacent the corners beneath the same, and beneath the cradle, said cables being attached to the cradle, and separate means for actuating said cables.

15. In a device of the character described, a vertically movable cradle, a plurality of counterweights, and cables connecting each counterweight with opposite ends of the cradle.

16. In a device of the character described, a supporting structure, a car dumping cradle adapted to be lifted and tilted laterally in said structure, and a plurality of separate hoisting devices for supporting, lifting and tilting said cradle, each hoisting device including cables connected to opposite ends of the cradle whereby each hoisting device is capable of supporting the cradle in any of its positions.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aiiix my signature.

HARRY T. SIMMONS 

